Delta Tests Do-It-Yourself Boarding

A nationally recognized reporter, writer, and consumer advocate, Ed Perkins focuses on how travelers can find the best deals and avoid scams.

He is the author of "Online Travel" (2000) and "Business Travel: When It's Your Money" (2004), the first step-by-step guide specifically written for small business and self-employed professional travelers. He was also the co-author of the annual "Best Travel Deals" series from Consumers Union.

Perkins' advice for business travelers is featured on MyBusinessTravel.com, a website devoted to helping small business and self-employed professional travelers find the best value for their travel dollars.

Perkins was founding editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, one of the country's most influential travel publications, from which he retired in 1998. He has also written for Business Traveller magazine (London).

Perkins' travel expertise has led to frequent television appearances, including ABC's "Good Morning America" and "This Week with David Brinkley," "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," CNN, and numerous local TV and radio stations.

Before editing Consumer Reports Travel Letter, Perkins spent 25 years in travel research and consulting with assignments ranging from national tourism development strategies to the design of computer-based tourism models.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Perkins lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife.

Delta is the latest airline to test self-boarding. Joining more than a dozen other carriers, which are mostly international, Delta has installed experimental self-boarding gates at Atlanta and Las Vegas.

The idea is to cut costs by reducing the number of airline staff members required in boarding areas. The cost reductions seem significant enough that the Las Vegas airport has installed self-boarding capability throughout its newly opened terminal three expansion.

Although Delta is the only airline using the Las Vegas system so far, chances are pretty good that others will pick up on the idea.

As with so many cost-reduction measures, self-boarding has a downside. Chief among these: An airline loses what little control it usually exerts over the boarding process. Practices such as allowing family groups and exalted frequent flyers to board early, or boarding by zone, will probably be impossible to enforce—not that airlines are doing a great job with these existing systems to begin with. You can expect more pushing and shoving with self-boarding wherever you encounter it.

USA Todayreports that most airlines using self-boarding are in Asia and Europe, and that Lufthansa is leading the way. Still, as we’ve often noted, most airlines will grasp at any system that lowers their costs. And if it’s a bad idea for travelers, the message is: Get used to it.